Torchwood Is Back, In More Ways Than One

For those of us who are big fans of the Doctor Who spinoff show Torchwood, it's been a tough year. After the critically acclaimed and fan loved third season/mini-series event "Children Of Earth" aired on BBC last summer, we've been left hanging with no definite word as to what was going to happen to the show going forward. The show ended with the Torchwood team seemingly broken up for good. All but two members of the team were dead, one was pregnant, and the leader ran away to space to deal with the guilt of what had to do to save the world. It wasn't exactly a happy ending.

Fans waited eagerly to hear that a fourth season of the show had been picked up by the BBC, but no word came. Then there were rumors of budget cutbacks at the network and that Torchwood may have been one of the many shows that were forced to end their run due to lack of money. It was a dark time indeed, but things were about to get darker.

New rumors of an American version of Torchwood started swirling all around the internet. The sci-fi serial killer Fox was looking at adapting the show for American Audiences. Actor John Barrowman was said to still be in-line to reprise his role as Captain Jack Harkness, but there was word that the character may be changed so that he wasn't as omnisexual (read as "not gay") as he was on the British version of the series. Fans (myself included) recoiled in horror at the prospect that Fox might sexually neuter the show and destroy a franchise that was so loved, like they have so many times before.

The only bright spot for the last year for Torchwood fans was when word came down that Fox decided to pass on the project. Yes, it still meant no new Torchwood was going to be made, but at least Fox wouldn't ruin it either. Nothing is preferrable to Fox tinkering with things.

Happily though, word has come down last week that Torchwood is officially back. And not just in one media format, but in two.

First up, The BBC has officialy announced that an all new season of Torchwood (10 new episodes) has been ordered, but there's a bit of a twist. The new shows will be co-produced with the American cable network Starz.

The 10-episode instalment will be written by a team led by Torchwood creator, Russell T Davies, and produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Davies and BBC Worldwide Productions’ SVP Scripted, Julie Gardner, return as executive producers with BBC Worldwide Productions EVP Jane Tranter. The series has been commissioned by Controller BBC ONE, Jay Hunt, Controller BBC Drama, Ben Stephenson, and Starz President and CEO, Chris Albrecht.

While previous series were based on location in Cardiff, Wales, this new instalment will see storylines widen to include locations in the U.S. and around the world. John Barrowman and Eve Myles will return in their roles as Captain Jack and Gwen respectively, along with new faces.

Announcing the commission, Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning said: "We have a long history of working with many U.S. networks but it is incredibly exciting to be working with Starz for the first time, as well as to be reunited with the best of British in Russell, Jane and Julie. Torchwood will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and moving story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and bolder than ever"

To be honest, I don't see a lot to worry about in that statement. Torchwood's original creator (and all around awesome guy) Russel T. Davies is on board. Not only is John Barrowman coming back to play Captain Jack, but Eve Myles is returning to play Gwen Cooper as well. We've got the show's creator, and the actors for both of the team's surviving members coming back. It's not a reboot, it's a continuation of the series . . . . and to top things off, it's going to be on cable, not network TV. That means that Captain Jack's sexual antics are no longer limited by what he can do on Network TV

Oh God. Just imagine what Captain Jack Harkness will be like now that he can do whatever he wants.

Adding an international scope to the show isn't a bad thing either. I would totally love to see how Gwen and Captain Jack deal with having to work with agencies from around the world. It could add whole new layers to the show. Plus, Starz has made some pretty decent shows themselves. I'm still dying for a second season to Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Having them airing a new Torchwood season is fine by me. At the very least, it'll be a million times better than what Fox would have probably done with the show.

It's not just TV where one can continue to follow the adventures of Torchwood though. There's a new comic book series coming out too. It comes out this August from Titan Comics, and it features two stories. One of those stories has been written by none other than Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman.

Barrowman's tale, "Captain Jack and the Selkie," finds Jack Harkness dealing with a remote Scottish island where people are disappearing one by one. The book's second story, "Broken," was written by Torchwood script editor Gary Russell; in this five-part adventure, Jack, Gwen, and Ian get trapped in a cosmic hotel.

It certainly seems that after a long drought for Torchwood fans, the rain has finally come. We're about to get more John Barrowman than we know what to do with, which I'm sure is exactly how he likes it.

Space Prom

By Johann Joseph

As costume themed parties go, everything starts in the parking lot. You can begin to see who went all out with their costumes, who barely put up the ante, and who came to just view it all. But for a space theme, it didn't seem to stop many people from attempting to enjoy this once a year event.

The Back To The Grind of Riverside throws a Prom themed event every Spring, this year was just the best time for any Sci-Fi fan

As soon as I walked in my eyes were greeted with aluminum foil, sparkly sequenced outfits and odd shaped "armor". My costume of Ronald Ray Gun", I will admit, shamed the well thought out costumes of the crowd.

Live bands played inside and sometimes they even came outside to play. Some bandmates dressed as aliens, or were in full suits of gray. There was a display of laser guns on the wall and a "Space Lounge" for techno music down stairs.

I walked up to a few people just to ask them what the theme of their costume was.I got a quote of "A Sci-Fi movie from the 1940's" and a part of my mind got blown. Some people actually had this idea stored in the back of their heads and this Prom gave the opportunity to let their creativity out.

Of course, what didn't need explaining were the Star Wars and Star Trek themed outfits. Some of my personal favorites were a Robotech themed group and Bret from Flight Of The Conchords in his Daft Punk costume.

That was all before 11pm. Then, in walked Sinestro. That's right! The Fear monger showed up!

I have to admit that the written word really cannot compare to seeing these things, which is why it was a great thing that the Space Prom even provided a photographer! We took our Prom photos, as did everyone in attendance. For your visual pleasure, here are some of the photos I took, and some from the Prom group archive.

To see a my set of photos from the event, you can find them at the Geek-tastic Flickr page HERE.

These are only some of the 400+ photos that were taken from the Prom book. To see them all, check them out on their Facebook page

I can't wait to see what next year will hold.

Darth Vader - A Psychological Evaluation

We all know the story of Anakin Skywalker and his eventual turn towards the Dark Side, the path that led him to become Darth Vader. What led him down that path though? It wasn't the fault of the Force. Anakin chose the path of the dark side. What made him choose it?

According to a team of French researchers, it was the fact that Anakin appears to have suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

'He presented impulsivity and difficulty controlling his anger and alternated between idealisation and devaluation (of his Jedi mentors). Permanently afraid of losing his wife, he made frantic efforts to avoid her abandonment and went as far as betraying his former Jedi companions. He also experienced two dissociative episodes secondary to stressful events. One occurred after his mother's death, when he exterminated a whole tribe of Tuskan people, while the other one took place just after he turned to the dark side. He slaughtered all the Jedi younglings before voicing paranoid thoughts concerning his former mentor and his wife. Finally, the films depicted his quest to find himself, and his uncertainties about who he was. Turning to the dark side and changing his name could be interpreted as a sign of identity disturbance.'

And all this time I just thought Anakin was a whiny little bitch. I guess this explains why I only have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and didn't go on to get a PhD. I guess it's a good thing then that I'm not a practicing therapist. Who knows how many people I would have led down the path of the dark side.

(Thanks go to Mike Noyes for pointing this article out to me. The comic strip above is by Dave GRaff. I'd direct link you to his website, but I keep getting a virus warning every time I go there)

A Seriously Badass Star Trek Poster

Ok, let's all just say it together and get it out of the way.

KKKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!

I swear, yelling that will never get old. Anyways, the incredibly awesome image you see above is the first in a new line of Star Trek posters that are being put out as part of a collaboration between CBS and an art design firm called Mondo. To see the poster in its full resolution glory, go HERE.

I'd have to say it's easily one of the coolest Star Trek posters I've ever seen. There's this great streamlined, retro feel to it that I love. As an added bonus, those numbers on the left side of the poster are filled with nerdy importance.

The 1 and the 22 stand for the season and episode number of the episode that the poster is portraying. 3141.9 is the stardate that the events in the episode take place on, and 2267 is the year in which the episode takes place. Those are completely unnecessary little details to add to a poster, but they add just a little bit more nerdiness into something already exceptionally nerdy, thus making the poster even more badass.

Sadly, the poster sold out in less than an hour, so the chances of you or I getting one are pretty much nonexistant. However, there will be more posters in this line coming out in the future, so keep your eyes out for them. Also, pray for a reprint to be allowed.

Random Awesomeness

If you've ever wondered what the cast of Futurama would look like if they were turned into the X-Men, now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

The other half of the battle, of course, is killing people by shooting them with blue or red lasers.

My Farewell Letter To Star Tours

Yesterday, as part of my process for getting ready to move to San Francisco, I made a quick visit to Disneyland to pay my final respects to an old friend who has been with me since I was nine years old. I'm speaking, of course, of the ride Star Tours

Disney's Star Tours ride, as we know it, will be closing forever on July 27th of this year. There will be no Star Tours at all for about a year, and then in 2011 a brand new Star Tours ride will be opening in its place. This new Star Tours will be a much needed update to the old ride. As much as I love Star Tours, I have to admit that it has become rather badly dated. It very much needs an overhaul, and while I am happy that it's finally getting one, I am still sad to see a long loved piece of my childhood going away forever. Originally, I was planning on attending the closing ceremonies that are planed for the ride. I wanted to ride Star Tours for the last time on its final day of operation. However, due to my getting a new job and moving up to San Francisco next week, I won't be able to be here for that. Instead, I decided to head over to the park last night and ride one of my favorite rides ever one last time before I leave, and before it leaves too.

I rode Star Tours twice last night, to be honest. Once just wasn't enough. I took forever to walk through the Queue too. I was snapping pictures and taking video to help me remember it all once its gone. A menagerie of fond memories welled up in me as I walked through that queue. Memories from the thousands of times I'd walked through it before with family and friends. I remembered the first time I ever went on the ride, and how excited I was. I remembered riding it with friends in high school and quoting the dialog along with the characters on the screen. I remembered all of the good times I've had on Star Tours and a small tear did well up in my eye, I'm not going to lie to you.

It really did feel like this tiny part of my life was going away forever. Star Tours has been around so long that I thought it would never go away. I've even been saying for years that the ride needed an update. Ever since the prequels came out, I've had conversations with friends where we discussed the changes we'd love to see made to the ride. I know that the ride does need this update, but now that it's here and I'm having to face the reality of never riding the original Star Tours ever again, a part of me is really sad that it has to go. To help me cope with this loss, I've decided to write a goodbye letter to Star Tours. It goes a little something like this:

Dear Star Tours,

For many years you have been a beloved friend of mine. You've always been there to welcome me to Tomorrowland with the promise of a fantastic voyage among the stars. Now though, you must go to be replaced by a newer, more fancy version of yourself. Sure, this new version may be technically superior to you as you are now, but it will never share the same place in my heart that I have reserved for you.

There's a lot I'm going to miss about you Star Tours. I'm going to miss the Mon Calamari technician working in the booth above the entrance. I'm going to miss the video screen promising all of these new Star Tours destinations to planets I'd never get to go to like Hoth. I'm going to miss quietly laughing every time a call goes out for passenger "Egroeg Sacul" and being forever amused by the fact that most people don't realize that's just George Lucas spelled backwards. I'm going to miss the banter of R2-D2 and C-3PO as they endlessly work to repair a Starspeeder 3000 that shows obvious signs of recent blaster damage to it's hull.

I'm going to miss the overly chatty service droids in Sector 2, who sing to themselves and have to put up with constant power shutdowns as they try to work. I'm going to miss always wondering what was going on behind that window that occasionally gets lit up by some sort of electrical tool. I'm going to miss looking for the lone R2 unit foot that hangs from the ceiling in the conveyor belt of random droid parts. I'm going to miss the R6 droid and the R1 droid that are hidden below the walkway, which you really have to look for to see.

I'm going to miss Rex's "remove before flight" sticker that is still attached to him as we take off. I'm going to miss seeing the Voyage To Innerspace microscope (the ride that Star Tours replaced in 1987) in the hanger by as we fly by it and almost crash into it. I'm going to miss never quite making it to the endor moon. I'm going to miss flying through a comet and always wondering why we don't fly out of the open hole to space that appears about halfway through the tunnel on the right hand side. I'm going to miss the Rebel X-Wing pilot who tells us we can't be in a combat zone because "it's restricted". I'm going to miss being told that one can easily escape an Imperial Star Destroyer's tractor beam by "easing off on your main thruster". Seriously, why didn't anyone tell that to the Captain of the Tantive IV (the ship that's captured at the beginning of the original Star Wars)?

I'm going to miss dogfighting with Imperial Tie Fighters and always wondering how those two TIE pilots that Rex shoots down feel about being killed by a fairly incompetent pilot droid. I'm going to miss almost running into the back of an X-Wing as we head towards the trench run. I'm going to miss hearing the line, "Red 24, Red 30, follow me!" and wondering where the hell these 30 X-Wings have been this whole time when I only saw three or four of them during the dogfight. I'm going to miss seeing the Death Star explode behind R2-D2 in the rear view camera shot. I'm going to miss wondering who that nameless hero of the Rebellion is who destroyed the third Death Star, but who never gets credit for it. I'm going to miss that fuel truck that we almost hit on the way back into the hanger bay. Finally, I'm going to miss that guy in his office who looks eerily like George Lucas, but who apparently isn't, as he ducks for his life thinking that we are about to crash into him. Dude, who has an office right at the end of an active flight line? You really need to request a transfer buddy. Just a thought.

You have been a part of my life for many years Star Tours, and I will always look back fondly on our adventures together. When you re-open again next year with your new face and your fancy 3D special effects, I will eagerly wait in what I'm sure will be an hours long ride to see all of the new things that you have to offer. Deep down though, I'm going to miss the old you. The dated you. The rundown cheesy you. I will still love the new you too, but I won't forget who you used to be, and the good times we had together.

P.S. When the hell are you going to make peace with the People Mover and let people ride through you again? I really miss the view from the other side of the Starspeeder 3000, and that one lone Stormtrooper who was always hanging out in that darkened corridor.

Moving On Up

I'd like to take a moment if I may to make a quick announcement here about some changes that are going on behind the scenes here at Geek-tastic. Don't worry, I'll be brief.

For almost the past twenty years of my life, I've called Southern California home. I was actually born and raised in Southern California, but there was a short period of a few years during my childhood in which I lived in New York and Florida. However, since 1992 I have lived somewhere in and around the SoCal area. The majority of that time was spent in a city called Temecula, which is an hour north of San Diego. That's where I lived during high school and college. That's where I was when I started attending the San Diego Comic Con. That's the town where I got really into playing RPG's and reading comics and a ton of other nerdy stuff. That's the town, really, where I became the geek I am today.

After Temecula, and after I graduated college, I lived briefly in San Diego before finding a job that brought me up to Orange County, which is where I have resided for the past six years. It's in Orange County that Geek-tastic was born, and where I've lived since the site was born. However, all of that is about to change.

Next week, I'm packing all of my belongings into a large truck and am moving up the the San Francisco Bay area. I've wanted to live up in the Bay Area for well over a decade now, and I was lucky to finally find myself in a position where I could hunt for gainful employment up there. The search went much quicker than I ever imagined it would, and I'm beginning a new job up that way in a few weeks.

How does this affect Geek-tastic, you ask? Well, by living in the Bay Area, I am hoping to find myself much closer to cool nerdy events that I can cover for the site. San Francisco is a much bigger city than Orange County and San Diego. It also has a huge geek population. Between those two, I believe I shall be better able to attend cool events on a more regular basis, and then post them here for you to enjoy.

Sadly, I will be moving farther away from the San Diego Comic Con, but I am still planning on attending that next month. Don't worry about that. I know things have been sporadic here at the site for a few months now. Some of that has been general laziness on my part, but some of it has been me filling my time with job hunting and (more recently) packing and getting ready to move. Once I'm settled into my new place, I'm hoping to get back into posting more regularly here at the site. And yes, I want to do some podcasts as well. Those aren't dead completely yet. They're only mostly dead.

Goodbye Southern California, and hello to San Francisco. I can't wait to get to know you better.

When Geekiness And Ecological Disasters Collide

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is no laughing matter, yet one can't help but turn to humor to help deal with the massive devastation that we humans have wreaked on a large piece of nature. Here are some of my favorite bits that I've seen over the last few days which I've found amusing.

(Via Geekologie and Sci-fi Wire)

What The Hell Is Going On In Mos Eisley?

Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of . . . electronic musicians and rap stars?

Wait, what the fuck?

The above video is a new commercial for the Adidas line of Star Wars products, and it's freaking me out. A bunch of random Adidas spokespeople have been edited into the cantina scene from Star Wars, and while the overall affect is somewhat disturbing to me, I do have to admit there are some cool moments to the commercial.

Snoop Dogg with a lightsaber is definitely an amusing concept, but just the idea of having Daft Punking hanging out in the cantina and being the guys who hire Han Solo? Hells fucking yes! Can I see that film now? Please!?!?!

Heartless - A Steampunk Tin Man Short Film

Forget the SyFy channel's completely horrible Tin Man mini series. I'd much rather watch this version of the Tin Man much more.

Heartless is a 22 minute short film that details the backstory of the famous Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz books, as it was originally written by Frank L. Baum. I don't think I've ever seen the story of Nick Chopper so accurately told in film before. It's a sad story, to be sure. Tragic is probably a better word, but the way the tale is told here is simply beautiful. Then top it off with some great steampunk elements and the film becomes just about perfect.

It does start a little slow and cheesy, I'll admit that. Give it a few minutes though. It won't disappoint, I promise. The bits near the end are gorgeous. I hope these filmmakers decide to make backstories for the rest of the Wizard of Oz cast too. If these guys were to ever make a full-on Wizard of Oz remake, I'd watch it in a second.

If you'd like to download a copy of the song in this film, or the soundtrack, you can find links for both here.

Those Avengers Are Pretty Damned Stylish

Today has been a field day for fantastic superhero fashion. Someone over at Marvel's film division has leaked pics and artwork detailing not just one, but two superhero costumes from Marvel's next two big comic book blockbusters, Captain America and Thor. First up is the World War II veteran himself, Captain America.

Not too shabby, in my personal opinion. It's definitely more inspired by the militaristic look of Cap's outfit from the Ultimates series than his usual Marvel look, but that's ok with me. I actually think Cap's outfit should look like something he can take into combat. He is a soldier after all. I actually think this looks like a bit of a paratrooper outfit too with those suspender looking things and that helmet. And the shield! Thank god the shield hasn't been touched at all. If there's absolutely positively one thing about Captain America's outfit that you can't change, it's his shield. It's iconic. I'm glad to see that Marvel kept it as it is for the movie.

There's no word yet on if this is the outfit he'll wear for the whole film, or if this is something he either wears only in the past, or gets when he's thawed out in the present. Personally, I'd dig it if this was his updated outfit that he gets once he's in the present. For his actual WWII outfit, I'd love to see a few scenes with Captain America's original shield, even if it's only for a scene or two.

And then there's the Norse thunder god himself, Thor.

We'd already seen a pic of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, but that was only a partial shot. This is the first full "pic" of Thor in his costume. I put quotation marks around the word pic there because this thing is so heavily photoshopped, I'm not sure if it actually qualifies as a real picture anymore. Regardless though, it looks pretty sweet if you ask me. He's got the cape, the hammer, the random little circle things on his chest whose purpose I've never understood. He's definitely Thor alright.

Many thanks go to Robert Saucedo from Inside Pulse for making that truly kickass collage of Cap and Thor with Iron Man that I put at the top of this article. I am seriously having a giant nerdgasm everytime I look at the damn thing. It's just too damned cool. I want to see the Avengers film, and I want to see it now. The summer of 2012 is too far away. Curse you time, why can't you move faster.

One final thought, that pic of Thor is just begging to be photoshopped into a beer advertisment. If I don't see a version of that pic online in the next few days with Thor holding out a big ass bottle of ale with a word bubble of him saying, "By Odin's Beard! That's some great beer!", I'm going to be highly disappointed by all of nerd-kind.

Do you hear me out there across the internets? I've thrown down a challenge. I wanna see that pic. Don't disappoint me!

New Thundercats? Hooooooooo-ld On A Second

Word broke yesterday that there's going to be a new Thundercats cartoon series. Upon hearing (ok, reading) the words "new Thundercats cartoon" yesterday, I instantly responded the same way any self respecting nerd in his early 30's would who watched the cartoon growing up, I jumped up and down for joy, clapped my hands and screamed like a five year old girl. You know, the usual.

After a bit more time to think though, the worries have set in. Can any cartoon really compare to my nostalgia infused memories of the original series? Don't most reboots of 80's cartoons suck horribly? The more I think about this, the more I get torn. On the one side, you have reboots like that terrible Masters of the Universe series that came out a few years ago. You remember that one right? It was the one where He-Man was somehow bestowed with an emo-mullet. That thing was pretty god awful, and it tarnished the memory of the original series. I think most of us bitter older nerds tend to view the majority of reboots along the lines of that kind of quality.

On the other hand though, there's the occasional gems to be found like GI Joe: Resolute. That was probably one of the greatest things ever made as far as I'm concerned. Not only did it live up to fan expectations, but it was actually a superior quality product than the original series was. It was a shining example that not all reboots of classic shows are bad.

I'm not saying that a new Thundercats series is guaranteed to be super sucky, I'm just saying that the posibility exists and that we all need to recognize that. I will do my best to stay hopeful, but who knows how this will turn out. Oh, Sword of Omens, if only you could grant me sight beyond sight and let me know if this new series is worth getting excited about or not.

My Days As A Date-less Geek Are Over

This is a real product. I'm not making this up. Don't believe me? Go check out the product site.

I know have a new plan to end my days as a date-less geek. The plan is as follows:

1. Buy a bottle of Shirtless Kirk.


2. Spray myself liberally with it.


3. Find myself to suddenly be the most desirable man on the planet.


4. Sleep with every woman I meet, be they human or green skinned alien.

Consider yourselves warned ladies. The Pat is about to go on the prowl.

Random Sci-fi Music Video Awesomeness

This is the new music video for the band Broken Bells' new single entitled "The Ghost Inside". Now, I'm not one to typically post music videos here to geek-tastic, seeing as how most music videos aren't typically geeky affairs. Trust me on this one though. Watch the video. It definitely has a good amount of geek cred. In this video, you will see the following:

1. Spaceships


2. An intergalactic toll booth


3. A spaceship refueling depot


4. A post apocalyptic world


5. A super hot red-headed robot chick who dismantles herself one piece at a time.

Oh, and just for some additional geek cred, that super hot android is played by none other than Christina Hendricks. Most of you will probably recognize her as Joan Holloway from AMC's TV show Mad Men, but she also happens to be the actress who played Mrs. Malcolm Reynolds in not one, but two episodes of Joss Whedon's Firefly. That's right, she was Saffron, the constantly lying/backstabbing thief who tried to steal Serenity and then left Captain Mal sitting naked on a rock.

Is that geek cred enough for you?